A Morse code task spelled doom for Joe and Heidi Wang on The Amazing Race after the pair was U-Turned by detectives Louie and Michael, forcing them to the code-deciphering challenge in the World War I-inspired Detour. "No other team did it, so that was the end of us because we had to do two," Joe, 42, tells TVGuide.com. "That was an impossible task for us — not to say that no one can do it. I'm sure military-trained individuals would be able to do it." Find out how long Joe and Heidi, 37, toiled with the recording's endless beeps, what may have affected their guesses and more.

TVGuide.com: What went through your head when you saw you were U-Turned? Did you think anyone would U-Turn you?Heidi: It was definitely unexpected, but at the time, we were in the lead, in the top 3, and my mission was to just go tackle it, finish it and move on and maintain that lead. Unfortunately, that task was something you couldn't mentally prepare for, couldn't physically prepare for. It was just a surprise that came out of nowhere.

TVGuide.com: How much time did you spend doing the Morse code?Joe: It was between, I would say, five to six hours. ... Mentally, you're breaking down. The crawl itself [in the first Detour] was a physical endurance thing. My knee hurt, but I sucked it up. Just hitting the U-Turn, all we could say was, "Let's just deal with it." Heidi: Doing it, you just put yourself into that position of people who actually fought in World War I, knowing that that was their only means of communication. If you didn't know how to transmit or decipher at that point, your fate was determined. It was very emotional to watch it on TV and to relive that time in history.

TVGuide.com: How difficult was it trying to decipher it with bombs exploding next to you? Heidi: With the bombs exploding and the planes overheard, you just lost your focus so many times. It was a combination of dots and dashes and spaces. It was on this recording that would just keep on going. It was so fast, like, literally the dots, the dashes and the spaces all sounded the same. We listened to that recording a couple hundred of times. I could probably listen to it another thousand times and I wouldn't get it. And we couldn't even tell when the recording started or when it ended because it kept repeating.

TVGuide.com: You did the crawling Detour and the message there was "The war is over. Vive le liberte." Did knowing the answer to that affect your guesses for the Morse code?Joe: It could've. We actually went through "Vive le France" and many versions of that. And we did "The war is over." When Phil came in and said it was "We will prevail. Vive le France," we were like, "OK, we weren't even close." That shows you that no matter how many times we listened to it, it wasn't helping because we didn't even get close to it. Heidi: Just imagine those two sentences in dots and dashes. It was a long, long message.

TVGuide.com: At what point did you decide to stop?Joe: We stopped listening to the beeps because it was not helping the situation. But we were always guessing what the message could be. ... We were always pushing it, even when we went for shelter. It started to rain and got really cold and Heidi was shivering, but we were still talking through it.

TVGuide.com: You had a good attitude about being U-Turned and getting eliminated, unless you were angry and it wasn't shown.Joe: That's the funny part. I've been labeled as a villain, but I think it's just my competitiveness. I never disrespected any other teams. I never even talked bad about any other teams if you look at other interviews. ... We always looked at every team as being competitive. We never even thought about U-Turning anyone because we were in the top 3 at that point.

TVGuide.com: What did you think of Louie and Michael's reason behind U-Turning you? They made it personal, saying they wanted to knock you down a few pegs.Heidi: People say that, but in all honesty, we consistently placed in the top 3 and I think they also saw us as a strong, competitive team. It was their opportunity to take anybody down and they decided it would be us. Joe and I have been married for 13 years. We've known each other for so long. We're good communicators. We never had a communication issue on the race. These are all strengths that could be intimidating.

TVGuide.com: Had you stayed, how do you think your knee would've held up, Joe?Joe: My knee would've been giving me problems the whole time. There's no question. It was already swollen. I iced it every night. I was taking a lot of Advil and codeine, but I would've fought through it. I'm a football coach for my kids' teams, so I push hard. I think most teams probably saw that. ... In a foot race, there was no way I could beat anybody, but I would've done the tasks. I actually just had knee surgery. It's on its way to recovery.

TVGuide.com: What are you up to now?Joe: I recently left my job. I'm going to make my $1 million pursuing other areas with my key strengths. [Laughs] I'm a strong salesperson. There are some opportunities that came around, so I'm just investigating them to get the next multimillion dollars.Heidi: The great thing about the race is that it just opens up so many doors. My background has always been in finance and accounting. When my daughter, who's my youngest child, is back in school in the fall in the first grade, I had always planned on going back to work then. But a lot of new opportunities have opened up, whether it's guest-speaking or light acting on the side. There are a lot of things out there that we're definitely evaluating and exploring.

I admire Joe's competitiveness, his continuing to run with an injury, and his obvious love for his family. I admire Heidi's upbeat spirit, her love and appreciation of the opportunity, and her obvious love for her family. I think they ran a very good race, despite some misunderstandings with other teams.

I 'm going to miss them, I would have liked to see how they would have done without having what appears to be a horrendous Detour.

awwww....

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Amazing Race’s Joe and Heidi on Facing U-TurnMarch 16, 2010Joe and Heidi Wang, a married couple from El Segundo, Calif., were left for dead on a World War I battle site in France after the cops u-turned them and they failed to decode the secret message. The 42-year-old software salesman and his homemaker wife, 37, spoke with PEOPLE about confusing codes, bum knees and using The Amazing Race as a prolonged date night. –Carrie Bell

Was it hard to relive the Morse code moment on TV?Heidi: Every week we’ve had big viewing parties with all our friends, but we made it a small private affair last night because we knew it was going to be hard for the kids when we got eliminated. The kids [son Jameson, 8, and daughter Harrison, 6] look at us as their heroes and thought we were going to be final three. To see the sadness and disappointment in their faces made it that much more emotional.Joe: They were shocked because for the few legs prior we were in the top three or four. Even when we finished the grueling crawl they were like, “You’re on your way.” Then they saw the U-Turn and they were like, “What is that? How come they picked you? How come you had to do two tasks when everyone else had to do one?” They didn’t understand.

Does it sting less or more after hearing the cops u-turned you because they saw you as competition that needed to be humbled?Heidi: The sting is there regardless. I personally never thought of the detectives as being a threat. I thought they were nice guys. To see them say those things took me aback.Joe: One bad flight allowed the cops to get ahead of us and that stings the most. We always talked highly of every team and viewed them all as competitive. It was strange to hear a lot of the negative things they said about me. They labeled me the villain. I’m fine, but I certainly haven’t seen who the hero is either.

Was it fair to call you cocky?Joe: It was just competitive race talk. Maybe they looked at confidence as cockiness.Heidi: And the stuff that he said was never directed at any one team. Anybody who takes it personally is stretching it.

Unfortunately, you just couldn’t crack that code. Heidi: The Morse code task was not something you could prepare for mentally or physically. We’d never done it before and we were already exhausted. It played over and over. You didn’t know when it started or stopped. It was fast and hard to decipher between dots and dashes. Some of the message was in another language. We’re smart people and we couldn’t figure it out. I guarantee that nine out of 10 people could not do it under those conditions.

To your credit, you handled the situation well.Heidi: We promised each other that regardless of how hard things got, we wouldn’t take it out on our relationship. As long as we left the show with dignity and grace on a task we couldn’t complete, we’d be proud of ourselves.

How badly was your knee hurting? Would it have ended your race eventually?Joe: My knee was going to get worse but I was going to persevere. That’s the kind of person I am and the other teams knew I would push through, so any opportunity they had to deter me, I think someone would have taken it … After that leg, they took me to the hospital and had x-rays done. I had arthroscopic surgery when I got back and I’m about 90 percent recovered.

You two wanted to bond on the Race. Did your dreams come true?Joe: Absolutely. Especially after we got eliminated and went to Sequesterville as we called it. We had a tremendous time together. We just don’t have time for that in daily life when raising the kids and pursuing career opportunities.Heidi: The long bus and plane rides allowed for a lot of quality time where we could just be together without being in race mode. We look back on it as a great time.

Favorite moment? Least favorite?Heidi: Obviously the least favorite is the whole U-Turn event.Joe: My favorite moment was in Hamburg. We were supposed to be on a flight that came in an hour ahead and it ended up coming in two hours behind. We pulled together and pushed ahead of the cowboys. And it was a great city. Beautiful scenery, beautiful people.

After finishing in fourth place or better during The Amazing Race's three previous legs, things appeared to be going very well for "Married Couple" racers Joe Wang and Heidi Wang.

However things quickly derailed when "Detectives" Louis Stravato and Michael Naylor opted to use the fifth leg's U-Turn twist to force Joe and Heidi to do an additional Detour task they were unable to complete, resulting in the couple becoming the fourth team eliminated from The Amazing Race's sixteenth season during Sunday night's broadcast of the CBS reality competition.

On Monday, Joe and Heidi (but mostly Joe) talked to Reality TV World about their The Amazing Race experience -- including whether Joe was aware how Louis and Michael seemed to interpret some of his comments, what happened when they were "saving spots" in line during the Race's second leg, how bad Joe's knee really was, and whether they had really never imagined someone would U-Turn them.

Reality TV World: Joe, were you aware how your comments were coming across as trash-talking to some of the other teams or had you just not realized it?

Joe Wang: So that question, I was trash-talking?

Reality TV World: Yeah, the comments you were making. Were you not aware that was how some of the other teams were taking them?

Joe Wang: No, no, I never took it as -- I can only see what I saw on the video, and I don't think it had anything to do with trash-talking. It had a lot to do with me being very overly confident and me being a competitor, and being a threat. I didn't hear anything about trash-talking, You'll have to elaborate a little bit more on that.

Reality TV World: When you were talking about how you weren't worried about any of the other teams. It seemed like that's how it came across to at least Louie and Michael.

Joe Wang: I didn't see a video about that, me saying that. I remember them asking me and I said all the teams are competitive and that my knee is giving me a lot of problems but we're still going to push this through, when we were on the bus.

Reality TV World: I think you're misunderstanding me. I'm not saying you were trash-talking, I'm saying that seemed to be how Louis and Michael took it.

Joe Wang: Right. On watching some of these "Secret Scene" videos [on cbs.com], all of the teams were, you know, kind of strategizing against us. For whatever reason they chose.

We always ran the Race as Joe and Heidi running and we treated all the teams with great respect. And if you looked at any of our videos, we never talked about any other teams in a negative manner.

Reality TV World: So what happened during that ticket line incident, where you were holding spots in line?

Joe Wang: Oh yeah, no, no. That was not "holding a spot," if you want to call it that. We were at the bus station and Brandy and Carol went with us. And then they ended up going to another station to make sure we had the best bus route. So for us we had to stick together as a team, and so I was in the front of the line and then Brandy and Carol ended up coming back and said "This is the best bus route."

So because they were researching information for us, and we'd agreed prior to getting into line, that's what ended up happening. So the cops were not understanding the situation. We weren't holding any spots, they were already in line with us but they had to go and research for us too.

Reality TV World: You just weren't able to explain that to them? It seemed like it was more than just "the cops" that had an issue, I remember it looking like some other teams also made some comments.

Joe Wang: Yeah, I mean I think those things appear because that's also probably, possibly some editing. But everybody's in line, the same line, and we were just ahead of the line.

Of course people in the back of the line are always going to be upset with people in the front of the front of the line. Because we were all on the same bus, they had the same opportunity to be in the front of the line just like I did.

They followed me into the line, because I was in the front of the line. We were all on the bus all together at the same time, there was no advantage in there.

Reality TV World: After the U-Turn, you said that had "never imagined" that anybody would use it on you. So you're saying despite these squabbles and things, it had really never entered your mind that someone might be upset with you guys?

Joe Wang: Well you know what's interesting is you mention these "squabbles."

Reality TV World: Well, are you saying you didn't hear Louis and Michael shouting from their seats on the bus when you were making your comments or anything like that?

Joe Wang: Yeah, [but] it was all in good fun. Entertainment. So being U-Turned, I don't think I ever said I was surprised. I was surprised that they used it that early, because typically if you're in the front of the Race you're going to continue to go and why burn bridges?

Reality TV World: The direct quote I have -- and I'm not certain if it was actually yourself or Heidi that said it -- but one of you said you "never even imagined" somebody would use it on you.

Joe Wang: Oh no, then that was just out of context. I mean of course, anyone can get U-Turned. That's what the game is about.

Reality TV World: I believe it was Heidi that was also shown saying that you guys thought you had a "good rapport" with [Louis and Michael]. Was that your actual belief then, or was that out of context as well?

Heidi Wang: You know what's interesting is there's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that obviously doesn't make the show, so when we were in the long mandatory rest period after the Argentinean leg at that sheep ranch, we all spent a good 30 hours together And that was the only time we were not in a sequester mode where we could actually have meals together and have some conversations with the other teams.

And yeah, we were all in very good spirits and we were trying to make the best of the situation, camping in Argentina and not having showers and things like that. It was a good time. So, yeah, like I said it did come out of left field.

Reality TV World: When you first found out you had been U-Turn'd, did you think the "In the Trenches" Detour task was just going to be a minor inconvenience of sorts or were you immediately concerned that it had the potential to cost you the entire Race?

Joe Wang: Well, when we first had the choice initially, if you remember what they showed -- we looked at the Morse Code and my knee was bad and I still said "Hey, I want to go crawl" because I told my wife, "We never had training in Morse Code." We knew it was going to be difficult because some of those "mind" tasks typically are.

And if you looked at all the teams, no matter who they were they picked the crawl. Because sometimes you think the more physical challenge is going to be something you can do.

Reality TV World: So you were immediately concerned that it had the potential to cost you the entire Race?

Joe Wang: Absolutely. Immediately concerned with the Morse Code.

Reality TV World: Do you guys think Louis and Michael thought it was actually going to eliminate you or do you think they just thought it was going to slow you down?

Joe Wang: You know at that point I think it was whatever the U-Turn could have done. I mean I think the U-Turn typically slows teams down dramatically -- puts them in the "back of the bus," if you want to call it that. And I think there's also opportunities where, you know, it got us eliminated at this point.

I mean we felt like it was our destiny. If we were able to finish the Morse Code, then that was on us. And if we didn't finish it, it was on us too.

Reality TV World: Did you take any solace out of hearing them say you guys were "good competition and this is a competition" on last night's episode?

Joe Wang: Well in their interview, they talked about how we were strong competitors and we were a threat. I think a lot of teams said that, even some of the other interviews I saw with Steve and Allie that was published [on cbs.com].

You know, they used it and we had to deal with the consequences.

Reality TV World: Exactly what was your knee issue? We'd seen you talking about it before the bungee jump, but it hadn't stopped you from initially picking the soccer task in Hamburg after that and then last night's episode suddenly showed you keeping it elevated and iced-up during the bus trip. Was it a [minor issue] that just progressively got worse as the Race went or was the bungee jump the main cause of the problem?

Heidi Wang: Actually, Joe's knee basically bothered him from Day 1 and it just amplified as the Race progressed. It was actually the size of a grapefruit, he had to see the medics every day. And that was actually the first thing we did after we were eliminated, is we went to the emergency room in France and he had to get X-rays and have it looked it.

He can talk more, but basically every leg of the Race we were challenged by the knee.

Reality TV World: Right from the start?

Joe Wang: Yeah, one of the parts of the Race that I think most people don't know is all of the running and the pounding your body gets. I thought I was prepared for it, I did a lot of training, but the running kind of beat me up a little bit more than I thought it would.

Reality TV World: So was that a pre-existing injury that you re-aggravated?

Joe Wang: No, I played a lot of sports so I trained prior to it not knowing it was going to give me this many problems.

Reality TV World: When you finished the "Under Fire" Detour task, it looked like you were actually using the rifle as a cane.

Joe Wang: You are absolutely correct (laughs)

If you saw me, I was hustling through the crawl and I felt very good because it was some physical task that I was able to make some ground on. And of course, running off-balance and on non-level land, I was using it as a cane, of course.

Reality TV World: So if you hadn't been eliminated, how big an issue do you think your knee would have been going forward?

Joe Wang: Absolutely, the knee wasn't going to get better and actually probably would have gotten worse. But with my competitiveness and nature, I would have pushed it through and most teams looked at that, I think, as something that would have happened anyways.

They said, "I know the knee is bothering Joe, but I think his determination is going to push through that."

Heidi Wang: Yeah, we even said we think it would have been a hindrance but I still think we would have placed in the Top 3. If it was [just] a footrace, I give it to any other team, they probably would have beat us.

But if you take into consideration everything else, like our history together, our good communication -- we never had a fight on the Race -- then I think those are issues that would have propelled us to have been frontrunners.

Reality TV World: At the end of the Detour, they cut to a brief shot where they showed you in the trench consoling each other and kind of lamenting why you were U-Turn'd and then the next thing we saw was [The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan] coming out after sunset to see you guys. What happened in between there, were you still trying to get the code all that time?

Joe Wang: We were trying our very best. I mean we were there for close to six hours and then it got dark and the weather changed dramatically, it started to rain. So I was giving Heidi a lot of shelter, her whole body was shivering. And if you remember, when we left we didn't have anything to eat or drink since 8:30AM. That was close to almost 12 hours.

Reality TV World: After Phil told you guys the correct code message, Heidi, I believe it was you that said you would never have gotten "Vive France." How close did you actually come, was "Vive La Liberate" the closest?

Heidi Wang: No, it didn't show it but we obviously knew what the message was on the first Detour task, so we used that as our first message, and it was wrong. We knew it would be some variation, something to do with the war.

So although we couldn't decipher the Morse Code -- because if you were in that position with the bombs exploding, the airplanes flying overhead. It was freezing and it was so fast, the tape of the Morse Code was so quick, and you could not decipher between a dot, a dash and a space. You could only imagine.

But anyways, when we knew we couldn't actually decipher it, we just went and we kind of put our heads together and we went back with like 20 different messages, like what could it possibly be. And obviously we were so close but we just obviously did not get it.

Joe Wang: At one point [the Morse Code message] almost sounded like rambling to us, it was just noise.

Reality TV World: How realistic was that battlefield reenactment? It seemed pretty realistic on TV.

Joe Wang: Yeah, absolutely. They were the real trenches, I mean you could see how they were reinforced with barricades and stuff. I know they weren't real bombs, but they were throwing something that created a lot of sulfur and had dirt flying in the air. I was constantly in tears because of the smoke and the dust and the dirt.

Heidi Wang: And obviously you saw it last night, it was an emotional episode to begin with, being eliminated. But when you throw in the emotions of World War I and the soldiers -- I mean the whole show just embraced so much emotional aspects to it.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on The Amazing Race? Was it your first time applying?

Heidi Wang: (to Joe) Um, how do you want to put this?

Joe Wang: You mean how were we cast?

Reality TV World: How did you end up on the Race -- was it something one of you wanted to do and asked the other? Had it been your first time trying to get on the show? What's the backstory?

Joe Wang: One time. We applied just like some of the other teams.

Reality TV World: Was there one of you that wanted to be on it more than the other that had suggested it first?

Joe Wang: Originally we were brought -- we had an opportunity to get on the Race. So we both said that's something interesting and we both agreed to go on it together. And it was a challenge for us because I like the competitive fun in team sports and we liked the show itself. So we pursued it together.

In the Amazing Trenches with Joe and Heidi of The Amazing Raceby Reg Seeton

This week on The Amazing Race the new crop of teams jetted off to France to wage Amazing Race war on the old battlefields of France in the best Amazing Race tasks in the show's sixteen season history. As the Amazing Race teams hit the road this past week, Joe and Heidi Wang were on the minds of some of the teams, namely police detectives Louie and Michael, after Joe vocalized his confidence after hurting his knee. When the teams encountered this week's Detour, they all found themselves in the muddy World War I trenches of a former battlefield in France while bi-planes buzzed overhead, dropping fake bombs near The Amazing Race competitors as they crawled their way through barbed wire.

After making it through the heat of Amazing Race battle, Joe and Heidi were forced to do a second tour of Amazing Race duty when Louie and Michael gave them a U-Turn, which forced Joe and Heidi into the trenches to decipher a message in Morse Code. Although Joe and Heidi did their best with the Morse Code, the married couple were eliminated from the race when host Phil Keoghan met them in the trench to hand them their Amazing Race walking papers.

The next day we caught up with Joe and Heidi to learn more about their time on The Amazing Race, how they endured the battlefield, and what Joe and Heidi thought of being handed a U-Turn.

THE DEADBOLT: So, would you guys rather do the interview in Morse Code?

JOE WANG: [laughs] No, we care not to, as you can imagine. And we haven't done any studying after that either.

THE DEADBOLT: Although you guys were eliminated, how amazing was the task with the planes overhead and the action going on beside you?

HEIDI WANG: You know, it was absolutely amazing. I mean, that has got to be the Emmy winning show of the season. The sound effects and what was going on, the war reenactment, you really did feel like you were in that time and place.

THE DEADBOLT: Joe, how much do you think your knee played a factor in that leg?

JOE: You know, actually, on that leg my knee was not the problem. We did crawl through there. Even before we knew about the difficulties with Morse Code, as you guys can remember, I said, "No way. With a bad knee, I'm going to go do this crawl because the Morse code is more difficult." When we went through, I was so relieved. I'm like, "All right, great! We finished that task, let's get on to the next one." Just seeing our photo on that U-Turn was just devastating.

THE DEADBOLT: Well, how do you think Louie and Michael should've played the U-Turn?

JOE: That I don't know, other than the U-Turn is definitely one of the game aspects and they decided to use it very early on.

THE DEADBOLT: Who would you guys have U-Turned?

JOE: You know, Phil actually asked us the same question and basically Heidi and I had a strategy: If we're ever in second-to-last place is when we would use the U-Turn. Then, at that point, our goal was just running to the U-Turn spot and then we weren't going to U-Turn anybody. We were already in the front, so we weren't going to use that.

THE DEADBOLT: Looking back, is there anything you should or could've done differently with the Morse Code?

JOE: I think we did the best we can. I mean, just going through the process of listening to the Morse Code and hoping you heard it, it was almost an impossible task. I'm assuming that someone who has been trained and taught [Morse Code], it would come easy. But for us, definitely, it was something that was impossible.

HEIDI: Yeah. I mean, the Morse Code, the reel that you were listening to was so quick that you could not decipher between a dot and a dash and a space. I mean, we listened to it hundreds and hundreds of times over. With the planes flying overhead and the bombs exploding, it was just a really hard task.

THE DEADBOLT: In what ways do you think the race tested you as a couple for the better or worse?

HEIDI: You know what? First of all, when people are watching the show at home - I mean the race is challenging but until you're actually on the race as a contestant, it is a lot more difficult and challenging than it appears on TV. I don't think people realize how long the travel legs are. Joe and I, we're seasoned travelers and we fly extensively and my ankles were constantly swollen by how much travel we did in such a short amount of time. So that was definitely a challenging aspect of it.

Also, we were sleep deprived. That leg where we were in France, we had no sleep in twenty-four hours. Actually, that baguette in France was the first thing that we had to eat and I actually didn't drink anything for twelve hours. So you're sleep deprived, you're hungry, you're water deprived, and you're just exhausted.

THE DEADBOLT: Was there anything from your time on the race you wish was aired, something that we didn't see?

JOE: The Hamburg leg was a crucial leg where the cops [Louie and Michael] were actually at the end of the pack and their flight, low and behold, got them there earlier even though we were supposed to arrive an hour ahead. That was a turning point. Those are the chances that happen on the race.

THE DEADBOLT: Heidi, did you eventually get your silver after you were looking for it in Mexico when you went to the Elimination Station?

HEIDI: [laughs] You know, I did. We actually got it through another vendor. We got it for a great price. It was actually a steal. So I'm very happy and I wear that ring all of the time.

Here is the full clip of the Bonnie Hunt Show...what will we do without her??

Sorry though ...the audio is a bit off.

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

“We Must Have Listened to that Message Hundreds and Hundreds and Hundreds of Times” – RealityNewsOnline’s Exclusive Interview with The Amazing Race 16's Joe & Heidi by Teeuwynn Woodruff -- 03/17/2010

Joe & Heidi (right) were a tough team who hovered near the top of the pack for much of the race – and this leg looked to continue the trend until the married couple was U-Turned by Michael & Louie. Why was the Morse code challenge so hard? Have Joe & Heidi forgiven Michael & Louie for U-Turning them? Look inside for the answers to these and other questions!

Heidi: You know, we were approached with an opportunity to be on the show. We obviously went through the same strenuous audition process that everybody else did. Then we were finally selected. We knew this was an opportunity of a lifetime, and we could not pass it up.

RNO: This week the U-Turn did you in. Have you forgiven Michael & Louie for using it on you?

Joe: Well, I’ll put it this way. It’s part of the race. There’re certain tactics you can use. They definitely leveraged that piece of it.

Heidi: I think we’re at peace with the whole thing.

RNO: Having seen the episode, do you better understand why Michael & Louie used the U-Turn on you?

Joe: Yeah. The only thing we thought from the interviews that led up to it is they thought we were a threat. They had a choice between Steve & Allie and us – but they also had a choice with all the other teams behind us too… And they chose us.

RNO: When you made the comment on the bus that seemed to get under Michael & Louie’s skin, did you think anything of it at the time or was it just an off-the-cuff remark?

Joe: Well, no, I think it had a lot to do with how people receive comments. When I was being interviewed, I was being interviewed where they were asking me what I thought about the other teams. I said all the teams are competitive. I have to push stronger because, with my knee… You know, overcome that. So, however they overheard that, and what they took out of it, is up to them.

RNO: Did you ever think that not making friends with the other teams might result in taking you out of the race? Do you think if you had done so, they might not have chosen you?

Joe: You know what’s interesting? When we were in Argentina, one of the longest Pit Stops, they [Michael & Louie] were actually behind us in most of the legs. We didn’t really get a chance to meet them, to be honest with you.

That leg, we sat around and we talked and laughed. We talked about their kids and our kids. So, it was a very pleasant time together.

Heidi: For me, the U-Turn actually came out of left field – it was really unexpected. I was really surprised. Again, watching on TV, we revisited that whole experience all over again.

Joe: You know, we’re trying not to be in denial or anything. I mean, we knew we were a competitive team. I know how I sometimes am portrayed. Just, within the race, people say I’m very strong and so forth.

I had some knee problems, and surely that was a hindrance to me. But, at the end of the day, we ran the race like we wanted to go win the race.

RNO: What made the Morse code Detour challenge so difficult for you?

Heidi: Well, we had just gotten done doing the physical challenge of crawling through the barbed wire – all the explosions – I mean, just so you know, it was a lot longer than it looked. You had to go all the way there, get the message, and come all the way back. I believe it was almost the length of a football field.

So, then when we got to the Morse code Detour, it was so quick. If you were to listen to that reel of the beeps – it was just so quick. You could not decipher whether it was a dot or a dash or a space. We must have listened to that message hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times.

Again, you’ve got planes flying over, you have explosions, you’re constantly distracted. And we hadn’t eaten in so long. We hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before, on the moving Pit Stop. So, all we had to eat and drink was that baguette – in probably close to 24 hours. Your concentration level was at its lowest.

RNO: How long were you working on the Morse code?

Heidi: If you could see… We were probably there nearly six hours.

RNO: Did you ever come close to getting the message correct?

Heidi: We got half of it but, like I said, it was so hard to decipher the message. We knew what part of it could have been, because we got the message from the crawling Detour. When we knew we couldn’t decipher it we put our heads together and came up with maybe 20 other options of what it could be based on the war situation. Unfortunately, we just never got it.

RNO: How long did it take for you to complete the first part of the Detour?

Heidi: Maybe half an hour?

Joe: Yeah… Less than an hour.

RNO: Joe, your knee was obviously giving you a lot of trouble during the race. Was it injured before the race began?

Joe: Yeah, it was through all the running during the race… It was bothering me a little when I was doing the training, but it got aggravated throughout the race. The show cuts out a lot of the running through different terrain and the complexity of doing that with your backpack and stuff. I never liked to run to begin with.

RNO: Is your knee alright now?

Joe: You know, I recently had knee surgery. I’m in recovery and it feels a lot better. I’m back in coaching youth sports for my kids.

RNO: Did your children watch the race with you?

Joe: They’re big fans of the show, of course. We’ve had viewing parties at a friend’s house every week… until last night. Our kids were at home and we wanted to savor this for a moment. It was tough, because watching the reaction of our kid – they didn’t know what was happening.

Even at the start of the show they said, “I bet you Jeff & Jordan will get eliminated.” Once they saw us on the U-Turn they were like, “I don’t understand why that happened. Every team only has to do one. You had to do two.” Then we had to go through that explanation.

RNO: How hard was that for you?

Heidi: Our kids – in their eyes, we’re heroes. So, the whole time, they thought we were going to be in the top three. To see the disappointment in them… Very emotional. They went to bed last night crying. We have gotten so many emails and text messages – everybody was crying! So, it was just an emotional episode.

People fail to realize that The Amazing Race really is a family show. People of all ages watch it, from two-year-olds on up. I just think good core values are exemplified in the show. So many young viewers definitely were disappointed Sunday night.

Joe: Our kids felt like we exited very gracefully, I mean, unexpectedly. Because no one would expect that we were gone when we were in the top three. Then having to do the second challenge is where they said, “I don’t see that being fair.” So, they supported us in what we did.

RNO: What was the smartest thing you did during the race?

Joe: There are probably a lot of factors, but the smartest thing we did was signing up for the race. That was a challenge on its own, to get on the race. We feel pretty fortunate to have been part of it.

RNO: What most surprised you about the race?

Joe: It’s actually more challenging than it really looks. I guess they only have 45 minutes to show one leg. It makes it look like you just landed and everything is fine. The ride that gets you there, the situations you’re put in… It’s more difficult than it looks.

Heidi: I just want to add that they make it look like those airplane trips are, like, a minute. I believe that I heard that one of the legs on this season was the longest leg in the show’s history in terms of travel time. There’s so much travel.

Joe and I are seasoned travelers and my ankles were swollen from that much air travel in such a short amount of time. So, the travel in and of itself was very, very difficult.

RNO: Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your experiences on The Amazing Race?

Heidi: I just want to say that it’s actually kind of funny now that Joe has been dubbed the villain of the season. We’re running with it. We’re very almost flattered by the comments. Really, Joe is not a villain. He doesn’t have those villainous qualities. It’s just funny how, through editing, some of the things that he has said kind of come out that way.

Joe: I think the race shows that you can get out of your comfort zone and aspire to bigger things. I recently left my job to go pursue opportunities. We didn’t get a chance to win this million, but the race opened our minds to the possibility of higher goals for ourselves. The race teaches you not to settle for staying in your comfort zone.

The Amazing Race 16: Exclusive Interview with Joe and Heidi WangPosted on 03/15/2010 by Gina in The Amazing Race and Cast Interviews

by Gina Scarpa

On last night's episode of The Amazing Race, the teams were given the opportunity to U-Turn somebody else. That means that the team that receives the U-Turn must complete both Detours before moving on. Louie and Michael, who were in first place, targeted Joe and Heidi, who were close behind them. Joe and Heidi were faced with a morse code challenge that proved too difficult and were eliminated from the race. Today, the couple spoke to RealityWanted about how seriously they took the race, their alliance with Steve and Allie, and their feelings about the way they went out.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Whose idea was it to try out for The Amazing Race and how did you end up becoming a part of the show this season?A. Joe: We were approached with the opportunity to go on the race. We applied like everyone else did competing with all these teams. We're honored that the race selected us

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you feel leaving your family behind to go on the race?A. Joe: That was one of the biggest challenges. We have close family. My mom was helping us with the kids.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did you do a lot of preparation before the show?A. Joe: We did a lot of endurance things like jet skiing, parasailing, rock climbing.A. Heidi: Joe and I took this really seriously. We trained, we went running 3 times a week before the kids woke up for school. I got lasic eye surgery. I studied maps and atlases every night before I went to bed and we actually bought the entire series of The Amazing Race on Ebay and watched it every night. We used it as game time review. We learned so many things from previous contestants

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Any favorite past contestants?A. Joe: We liked season 5's Chip and Kim. They were very jolly and competitive by nature.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You worked with a few different teams, mainly Steve and Allie. Were you planning to stick with them or were you going to cut them loose when the time was right?A. Joe: Steve and I are both competitors. He's a professional baseball coach. I played a lot of sports. We said, right now, we're working together but it's a very complex race. We knew at any given point that we would race on our own.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you surprised that Louie and Michael U-Turned you as opposed to Steve or Allie?A. Joe: I think being U-Turned is definitely a surprise. We were running ahead and typically, when I've seen U-Turns, it's the second to last team. They don't want that team behind them to catch up to them. If you're in the front of the pack, you usually just keep going because you don't wanna create negative vibes.A. Heidi: They had the opportunity to u-turn anybody. They didn't have to choose between us or Steve and Allie.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Joe, do you think that the comment you made on the bus is the reason they U-Turned you or do you think they had already planned to do it if the opportunity arose?A. Joe: They said that we were a threat and even with my knee, I was going to push through it. There were a lot of things said on camera and off camera but it's how people portray it.A. Heidi: In every interview that we did, we never said anything bad about any of the other teams. It's really unfortunate that the U-Turn came and we weren't able to complete the task.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How difficult was it to watch last night's episode?A. Heidi: It was really hard with our family. This was the first time that we just had a private viewing with out immediate family. Our kids think of us as our heroes. They thought for sure we would make it to the final three. There were teardrops everywhere.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What are you up to now? What has life been like since you've been home?A. Heidi: It is just crazy! Joe recently resigned from his steady job and we're just evaluating and reviewing so many different opportunities that have come our way.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did you do a lot of preparation before the show?A. Joe: We did a lot of endurance things like jet skiing, parasailing, rock climbing.A. Heidi: Joe and I took this really seriously. We trained, we went running 3 times a week before the kids woke up for school. I got lasic eye surgery. I studied maps and atlases every night before I went to bed and we actually bought the entire series of The Amazing Race on Ebay and watched it every night. We used it as game time review. We learned so many things from previous contestants

Married couple Joe and Heidi Wang had a solid start on last night's episode of The Amazing Race, completing the detour challenge in third place. However, their hopes of making it another week were left in the balance when detectives Louie and Michael targeted them with a Blind U-Turn, meaning the duo had to go back and complete a second detour task. After several unsuccessful attempts to crack the Morse Code challenge, they became the fourth team to exit the race. We gave them a call to chat about the experience.

How does it feel to be eliminated at this stage?Heidi: "Very sad, very, very sad. We had viewing parties in the past every weekend, but last night we made it a private affair to be with our family. The kids were crying and very emotional."Joe: "And of course they had no clue. They were looking at the race and thinking we were in the lead, having finished the crawl ahead of everybody else. My son said, 'How come you have to do another one? I don't get it'. We had to explain to him what a U-Turn means and what it means in the game."

Did you know immediately who had set the U-Turn?Joe: "Absolutely because we were already in the top three and had just finished about 10 or 15 minutes behind the detectives, and Steve and Allie where right in front of us. For it being blind, it wasn't really blind! I think they wanted us to know!"

What was your initial reaction?Joe: "The initial reaction was, 'Oh my God'. We had just accomplished this physical endurance task..."Heidi: "That crawl was not easy! The gun was very heavy, and you had all this gear on as you crawled under the barbed wire, and to and from the station was a long way."Joe: "We're determined individuals so we looked at it and said, 'Let's just go after this and get this done'. We knew it would be a difficult task, and when we first saw the clue I had mentioned to Heidi that we didn't have any training in Morse Code."

Why do you think Louie and Michael chose you?Joe: "Based on some of the interviews we've seen, they thought we were a threat."Heidi: "I think honestly, deep down they thought we were a strong, competitive team, which in itself is a compliment and we're privileged to have that as our legacy. I think it's because Joe and I have strong communication, a good history, and we didn't really fight or have those emotional, dramatic episodes that maybe some other teams had."

How long were you out there?Joe: "We were there for close to six hours trying to figure it out. You could see that because it got darker, the temperature dropped dramatically and it started raining. We hadn't had anything to eat since we left the pitstart except for that baguette."Heidi: "It was winter time in Europe so it was freezing, and then it started to rain and we were just wearing those war outfits they gave us. It was really cold."Joe: "We were trying to crack the code by thinking creatively. I was holding Heidi because her whole body was shivering and we were coming up with random statements that we thought might fit, but none of them did."

Was it a mutual decision to call it quits?Joe: "We were constantly thinking and writing down what the statement could be. One of the things about the race is you never know when a non-elimination piece is going to come. We didn't throw up any white flags or anything."

Obviously we thought you might have a chance with Brent and Caite having to go back and Jordan and Jeff struggling - were you aware of what was happening with the other teams?Joe: "We were aware of Jordan and Jeff because they had to come through to do their speedbump, but we didn't know about Brent and Caite. It was a light for us when we saw Jordan and Jeff, and we continued to push along. I remember when we saw them we gave about ten more statements, but then we saw them crawling out and thought we might be in big trouble."

Do you think you would have eventually got the message if you kept trying?Joe: "When Phil came over and told us we were looking for, 'We will prevail. Viva la France', we both looked at each other and said there's no way! The code itself rambled on and we didn't know where the breakage was."Heidi: "It was a running message with no stop or start - it just kept going over and over. We must have listened to it hundreds of times with the airplanes flying overhead and the bombs exploding and the shooting. You would lose your train of thought and couldn't hear it. It was a challenge that there was no preparation for."

Is there anything you would change about the whole experience?Joe: "I felt like we tried to run the race very fairly. We always talked great things about all the other teams."Heidi: "We always spoke very highly of the other competitors, and if we knew they were strong in certain aspects we would say that in our interviews. We never said anything bad-spirited or negative. I think we played it fair, and some of the things that Joe said that were maybe confident came out like he was offending other people. It's funny though, we came out of this and it's almost like he got the villain role! I think it's funny and very humorous and we're just running with it and enjoying it!"

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you surprised that Louie and Michael U-Turned you as opposed to Steve or Allie?A. Joe: I think being U-Turned is definitely a surprise. We were running ahead and typically, when I've seen U-Turns, it's the second to last team. They don't want that team behind them to catch up to them. If you're in the front of the pack, you usually just keep going because you don't wanna create negative vibes.A. Heidi: They had the opportunity to u-turn anybody. They didn't have to choose between us or Steve and Allie.

Margie & Luke didn't do that! We were the third team to be at the U-Turn mat when we u-turned Amanda & Kris. I guess we created a new strategy that it doesn't have to be for a second to last team to u-turn a last team.